Natika H Halil on providing emergency contraception to under 16s

Recently the UK’s press went into overdrive reporting on the recent change in emergency contraceptive pill ellaOne’s product licence—now available to buy over the counter for women of “all reproductive ages,” and therefore including under 16s. Of course levonorgestrel was already available to under 16s in pharmacies in many areas through patient group directions. In […]

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Tracey Koehlmoos: Whatever happened to the diaphragm?

The recent debate in Washington about birth control being mandated for coverage by employers or by health insurance as well as the 101st celebration of International Women’s Day makes me feel empowered to write about a women’s health related issue that I am experiencing now as part of life in the widow-hood. When the Colonel […]

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Marge Berer: Jingle pills indeed

Many years ago now, when news of female sterilisation first came out, Catholic priests in Puerto Rico and other Catholic countries preached from their pulpits against women being sterilised. As a result many more women learned that sterilisation existed, and many went out from church asking where to get it. In effect, the church gave […]

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Bruce Weaver: IPPF launches films about contraception

The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) is a global organisation formed in 1952 with the aim of promoting sexual and reproductive health around the world, especially in developing countries. It operates in over 170 countries. Yesterday, it launched six short films depicting six young women in various countries across the globe. The aim of these […]

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Vidhya Alakeson on the US election

After the Democratic Convention last week, when healthcare featured in almost every major speech, I had been waiting all week to see whether the Republicans would talk about it at all during their Convention in Minneapolis. Yesterday, on the last day of the Convention, healthcare reform finally got a mention when John McCain took to […]

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David Payne: It’s the economy, mum and dad

Should doctors advise people to limit the number of children they have for the sake of the environment, asks the latest bmj.com poll. Our decision to ask this question was triggered by a huge amount of weekend coverage of the editorial by John Guillebaud and Pip Hayes: Population growth and climate change.  Scotsman columnist Gerald Warner […]

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